a week of Nicoles

monday: w leggings and cardigan

tuesday: w smock and leggings

wednesday: w madison and belt

thursday: w leggings, sweater, and boots

friday: w leggings, wrap top, and boots

The Nicole dress from Lularoe is really versatile. I'm not a consultant but I did get bit with the bug so have more than a few pieces of most styles. I like to wear the Nicole backwards for the higher neck. Since it was cold I paired it with leggings but when the weather is warmer, I wear it as it with flats.

the {tunic} dream!

 

 

 

It's been a year of waiting but my most excellent gift of the perfect tunic has finally arrived and I couldn't be happier. My favorite caffeine fiend ordered up one for herself and one for me for Christmas last year but the shop got a little confused and sent up a size medium instead of a custom order. Due to my location being hours away and my refusal to settle for another spiffy spring collection dress I decided to wait until Fall. It arrived just yesterday morning and I put it on immediately (good thing I plan on layering it up). I may need to call up the shop and see if they can make me one in another color as well now that they have my measurements! If yer in L.A. check out Matrushka in Silverlake. There is oodles to look at and try on and if they have the fabric in the shop...custom made! Thank you bestest lady in the world! Top is from Kohl's (M) believe it or not, leggings are from Target (XL), and the boots are my newest Alegria obsession.

the great capsule wardrobe adventure

Have you ever heard of a capsule wardrobe? It's where you invest in your basic pieces and build from there. It's also sometimes known as a french wardrobe. I liken it to packing light, only yer not actually traveling. Ever since I can remember reading magazines and being an avid purveyor of fashion, I have aspired to owning a perfect wardrobe...of sorts. I blame all those fashion articles on eight easy pieces where you have a handful of items that all miraculously go together so you can combine them into a zillion different outfits and be all snazzy and such. I aspire t have a minimalist wardrobe, I really do but the problem is, nothing I own really and truly fits properly...and I seem to be a magpie and get all wanty with fashion and this needs to stop. I am embarrassed to write that I just did a second closet purge since we moved into the homestead which means that somehow I acquired an entire closet's worth of new items between August and January. Thank goodness for thrift shopping but still, that is ridiculous. Enough is enough, it is time for a change and so, after a visit or two or three to my pinterest board  (is it okay to admit how much I love my own board?) I have decided to try to actually become fashionable once again and that means I need to wear items other than jeans and my old focals t-shirt.

So, right before I got sick, I cleaned out the closet and had a pile of thrifted items I really liked but the colors were meh. So, channeling my old friend Margie, I did not cut them but I did dye them all black which warranted exactly what I was looking for...various shades of grey. Three of the items ended up a purplish bergundy and most all of them looked really nifty together. That was it, no time like the present, a mini capsule wardrobe was born (that collage up there took me forever to put together). I'm going to try going two weeks, only wearing the above items but mixing them up with various shoes and scarves. So far I've had five days which should have been eight only I got sick. Not pictured up there are two pairs of leggings, one grey with darker grey polka dots and one black and white stripes. We're experiencing freaky summer temps here but I'm really committed to this. In fact, after this, I will pull together another mini wardrobe and wear that for two weeks and so on and so on. I really have too many things in the closet that do not get worn. It's silly really.

Another reason why I am doing this and posting it thus being super vulnerable to fashion criticism is that whenever I look up capsule wardrobes online so far, every post I look at is of someone who is fabulously young, thin and gorgeous which is awesome for them. I however am not exactly fabulously young,  thin or gorgeous. I figure someone needs to represent the middle-aged frumpster so why not let it be me? And, to put myself out there even more I'll let you in on a secret. I'm just shy of 5' 6" and weigh about 190 pounds. I wear a size 12 to 16 depending on the item fabric, and manufacturer and am always, always startled at how wide I appear in photos, I don't feel wide. Sigh.

To break it down for you here is some background info on the items in case you are interested:
1. Khaki colored Banana Republic T; thrifted for about 75 cents
2. Taupe Linen sweater wrap; thrifted $1.50
3. Mossimo 2-tone grey sweatshirt; thrifted $2
4. Taupe Cardigan; thrifted $1.50
5. Linen skirt from Talbot's dyed by me; thrifted $3.99
6. Checked smock dyed by me; thrifted $3
7. Black and khaki Croft & Barrow smock; Kohl's $22
8. Black puffed sleeve T; JC Penney $7
9. Mossimo Black and brown printed cowl neck top; Target $12
10. Bergundy dyed by me Joe Fresh top; JC Penney $10
11. Jeans by Lee (elastic waist band, sssh!); Kohl's $25
12. Dyed grey linen trousers St. John's Bay; thrifted $2

Sit back, take a gander, ask questions, say hello and enjoy this adventure with me...please? Let me know what ya think.

inspired by andie: a pretty in pink tribute

pretty in pink 1 by jekinthebox featuring a lace tank

I was quite excited...maybe a tad too much, to have discovered Pretty in Pink on Netflix streaming. How could I not be? Pretty in Pink's Andie has been a major force in my fashion aesthetic. I was 15 when I first saw it at our local theater (which we walked to in our pointy toed flats or grannie boots) and was immediately smitten with Duckie (of course), lusted after both Andie's and Iona's wardrobes and so wished for a Volkswagen Karmann Ghia (chartreuse with aqua trim) that I took to sketching out outfits full of vintage floral goodness with a touch of leather studs. Oh how I wish I still had those sketches! I also thought Blane was a hoser and Andie a bit as well based on her treatment of Duckie and yet, I totally get it after watching it now as an adult. John Hughes truly was a teen movie genius. The "films" that come out now don't really seem to touch the frontlines of being in highschool like Hughe's films did. It might explain a lot but my memories of teendom are still fairly strong in my mind. I'm not sure we ever leave those feelings behind and I still feel like a confused wallflower trying to figure out who she is.

But back to my movie lurve. Andie's style (thank you Marilyn Vance!) not only spoke to me, it sang to me and so I filled my closet (well, acutally the floor of my bedroom) with all things vintage. What began with a little lace, floral and denim soon morphed into a lot of print, pattern, more lace, and more denim. I also became a fan of hats and bangles and tights...oh the tights I had! While I am currently in a fashion slump, I still collect images of what I would wear if I felt I could pull it off and have a very full pinterest board to show it. Someday...little by little, piece by piece I will get there. For now, here is my take on my favorite outfit from the movie and no, I was so not a fan of the prom dress (though I did like the sleeveless turtleneck, I though that was quite mod).

i want shiny hair (and less chins) aka the first rant of the year

**a return to the confessional....

Oh how I lurve this world wide web. I love it. I do. Sometimes however, more times than I should admit, I find that I do not like it so much if only for the way all that fabulosuness out there makes me feel. I am often inspired, quite often inspired...mostly inspired at least when it comes to recipes and crafts and diys and pretty things. It is the fashion posts that make me shrink in confidence and I wonder what happened to me?

Really. What happened?

see? no shine.

There are an incredible number of beautiful women out there blogging their stylish selves to the moon and back. Truly gorgeous. They have shiny hair, I have never had shiny hair. They have straight white teeth...me? Not so much. They look fantastic in tights or knee socks, in cowl necks and v-necks, kitten heels and lumberjack boots. They take their own photos and are in focus. Glowing focus with a secret smile on their faces and they look so casual and unposed in their perfection.

When I take a fashion shot of myself, really something like thirty shots, I look like a bad 80s catalog model all stiff with Spiderman wrists. I try making silly faces before the timer goes off. I think serious face, puckered mouth, sunshiney smile and I try but end up looking like a madball.

alluring..no?

Remember madballs? Maybe that is my problem. I'm old. And fat. Sure, I have great skin and a right dandy personality (so I have bee told) but I also have a waist size that used to be my bust size. I have a neck that crinkles. It crinkles, people! And my quirky outie belly button of yore is now an...innie. Gasp!  If I look down, even partially so, like I do when I read, or tippy-type on the keyboard, my face...and neck get lost in the uninvited guests of my chins. Plural. Yeah, I said it. I have CHINS. A serious case of the CHINS. I get so caught up in this dilema of mine that I've taken to stretching my head up and jutting my chin out you know, to camouflage the whole mess...I do it especially if I want to appear beguiling to the mister, sometimes I might even casually rest my hand somewhere under the whole mess thinking I can pull of a sultry Meryl Streep (seriously, Merly Streep? I AM old and she is too but she is stunning. STUNNING). All this accomplishes is a confused mister asking me if I am okay and why do I have that funny look on my face.

a laughng smile, wonky but me

I laugh about it. I do. A lot. Laughing is good, it makes one appear engaged and happy and dare I write it...sexy. Mister gets quite unhappy with me when I peevishly get all wrapped up in my imaginery non-looks. I wouldn't mind this fat dealio except I feel all ugly in the face (and no I am not trying for some ego boosting, I'm thinking of sharing this weakness in myself because I am certain there has to be a club of other like minded, like bodied ladies in search of a coffee kvetch. I really hope there is and I wana be a part of it and if there isn't, I say let's start one) and when I look at "plus" size models I wonder "why are they all so freaking gorgeous?" and really...they are not at all PLUS. Sniff. I think...who cares if yer fat when yer pretty and I have to honestly say I have never felt pretty. Never. Cute, I think I have mustered cute. When I was thin...from behind I was considered hot, from the front I was called dog-face (yes, really) and well, when a girl hears that enough she kinda carries it around with her and it is a stupid heavy load to carry. I need to put it down already.

Why do we do that? Carry around the crap that people feed us but doubt and disbelieve the nice things people say? I do this and it drives many folk around me nuts and all I can say is that I feel like I have had more people say unkind things than kinds things but then I get all caught up in the thought that I cannot believe the good things because then I would be bragging or big headed and if only my head were a smidge bigger, it might make my hips and ass less bulgy. Oh, and ranty rant onward, I seriously don't hate the fat (except the chins, I really don't like those buggers)...dimpled thighs aside, I'm still curvy and curves are good unless you want to wear clothes and well, society kinda dictates that we don't run around all nekkid (though nekkid dance partes at home are good as are nekkid jumping photos in national parks) and such and so I struggle. I struggle to find something, anything that will cover this large person who often misses her smaller self (a self which went AWOL back in the early 90s). Not only do I struggle for coverage but it would be nice if it both flattered the curves and made me not feel like a sloppy sad raccoon. Oh yes..and it would be nice if it stayed in place and did not ride up or slip off or creep down are cling from all the static that my doughy thighs are good at producing. Is that too much to a for?

go ahead...try it.

I would like to wear a dress and not worry that the skirt has creeped up under my bag (I carry a bag, not a purse). It has happened. It does happen. The first time it happend I was cute and 18 and wasn't at all embarrassed because hey, I had a great behind, I did. It rocked. In fact it rocked so much it didn't pass the pencil test. The boobs did, they were once perky and yes, the behind was as well but golly it could hold a pencil. What. Did you never try the pencil test...there? Well...um....nevermind that.

I would also like a pair of jeans that didn't slip off when I sat or squatted. Waists are either too high or too low. In the rare cases they do fit their pockets are usually sick with glitter or rhinestones. Bedazzled to an inch of their lives or they have distressing that makes it look like I participated in a sexy car wash ...with bleach. What's up with all that? On our BIG ROAD TRIP, I was so fed up with ill-fitting jeans, shorts and the like that I purchased a pair of shorts (which maybe were labled culottes, I cringe) that had an elastic waist. ELASTIC WAIST.

I am old.

see? patchy. patchy.

So...I love this world wide web. I do. But I would really like to return to my fashionista roots as I had them. BIG time. I'm good at clothes for other people not so much for myself. My closet looks pretty good and my imagination has paired up some lovely ensembles but when I put them on, I fall to the floor in defeat and return to my old-too-big-for-me patchy patched jeans, a tank top, maybe a genie bra*, and an eight dollar grey t-shirt from Target...crew neck because v-necks are icky and why, oh why are v-necks the only necklines in the store and why, oh why can I only find skinny jeans. Skinny jeans, really? But hey, if they fit and don't slip off, I will wear them....at hme, not in pictures. In fact, I picked up a pair of the skinnies that have tiny white polka dots all over them (I do love a polka dot) and they are on the dresser with tags still attached but I think it is passed the return-by date.  In my head I see them on me slightly cuffed, with crazy clunky white nursing shoes (a want), a long sleeved pale grey tissue-t, a dozen colorful skinny beaded necklaces, funky plaid old man vest, chunky watch (hee-hee...chunky),  and dark grey messenger bag.

It is time for a coffee kvetch. How does one set something like that up? 

sweet november: a simple fall ensemble

sweet november by jekinthebox featuring motorcycle shoes

This is what I would wear given the chance on a perfect fall day. I can sort of pull this look off now but my jeans are a bit more slouchy-loosey and my sweater is not nearly as nifty. My scarf is grey, my coat green and my bag could be grey or yellow. The shoes are a bit of a dream but I do have a pair that would work sort of. All in all I would wear this for any type of wander that did not include going up a muddy mountain or across an icy cold stream. Let's say this is perfect for breakfast or lunch and delightful for a visit to the apple farm or pier or perhaps one of Tara's picnics, what is your favorite go to ensemble for November?

a little like Gidget

a little like Gidget by jekinthebox featuring a wingtip oxford

i want to wear this: with a touch of denim

with a touch of denim by jekinthebox featuring acrylic gloves

blues be gone

blues be gone by jekinthebox featuring a lace skirt

H M flared dress
£15 - hm.com

Valentino lace skirt
$1,890 - net-a-porter.com

We Love Colors tight
welovecolors.com

Flat heels
$70 - modcloth.com

Comme des Garcons zip wallet
$363 - tobi.com